Friday, September 25, 2009

4th PGMA Cup round 2-3: GM elect Ronald Dableo leads

Some of the top seeded players who earlier made into the list of participants days before the 4th PGMA Cup started didn't made it to the final cut of the final participants. Names such as GM Zhang Zhong of Singapore but originally from China, was replaced by his countryman, GM Wong Meng Kong (2403). GM Le Quang Liem also did not arrived in Manila along the small Vietnamese contingent here. Though their absence didn't reduce the competitiveness of the tournament, it definitely reduce the vogues of the event. Hey, without Wesley So and other top Chinese and Indian grandmasters, we need some stars here!

But anyway, going back to the tournament. It is GM elect Ronald Dableo who is making quite a noise. Well, the guy remains undefeated with three straight wins, and defeated two GMs in one day. Georgian GM Gagunashvili in the 2nd round and GM John Paul Gomez in the 3th to remain on top of the standings along with GM Wong Meng Kong of Singapore after 3 rounds. A GM wannabe, Dableo needs to raise his rating points to 2500 to be finally considered a full pledge grandmaster.

Your defending champion, GM Eugene Torre settled for his three straight draws against his much lower rated opponents. Torre fans should be worried.

Below are links from chess-results.com

For complete results after 3 rounds, they are HERE.For standings after 3 rounds, they're HEREAnd for round 4 pairings, check them out HERE.